


The Boy

by tr_ash_tin



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bullying, Child Neglect, Colorblind Main Character, Colorblindness, Crying, Death, Discussion of Death, Drowning, Explicit Child Abuse, Explicit Language, Gen, Grief, Homophobia, Limbo AU, Memories, Minor Character Death, Sacrifices, Slurs, This is nothing but Angst kids, Timelines, Video Game, Vomiting, but please read im lonely, descriptions of death, discussion of religion, domestic abuse, feelings of worthlessness, if something needs to be tagged hmu, including:, ish, its camp camp, merry christmas guys, more drowning, the second chapter (not needed to read for the au) includes very bad content warnings, think thats it, this took so long, tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 04:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13159494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tr_ash_tin/pseuds/tr_ash_tin
Summary: The boy only remembered brief moments. He remembered someone, that wasn’t quite him, speaking through his lips. Saying, “I love you, Daniel!” The boy would’ve scoffed if he could from his weird area of wherever. He loved a very limited amount of things.He also remembered hearing distant singing. He didn’t know why, and he didn’t want to know, really.He remembered smelling rat poison and pine needles, which was familiar. There were so many rodents at the camp, though mostly moles. Campbell didn’t bother on distinguishing, and the kid honestly didn’t even know if different rodents had different things that were poisonous to them. He didn’t care enough to check.He remembered the taste was sweet. Kool Aid, and something sweet, like candy. It was chunky, the boy remembered.Finally, he remembered seeing David above him. He was crying, sobbing. It was silent.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> GUYS IF YOU'RE TRIGGERED EASILY PLEASE EITHER TURN BACK NOW OR PROCEED WITH CAUTION. I DONT WANT TO MAKE YOU GUYS PANIC.
> 
> Anyway, this is an au me and my friend made!!!!!!!!!! Based off the game LIMBO on Steam. Spoilers: Its not a happy game. 
> 
> Please proceed with caution if you have triggers with:  
> Vomiting  
> Death (and graphic descriptions of it)  
> Drowning  
> Paralyzation  
> Major/Minor Character Death

Max was sure he was burning from the inside out, and he couldn’t do anything about it. His mind was screaming for him to Move, fucking move, you’re going to die! but his body would not respond. Max willed his mind to slow down and accept his fate. He was going to burn to death. Or, since it was inside his body, maybe acid had escaped from his stomach into the rest of his body. Either way, he was dead.

 Max’s body opened his eyes for him, though his mind did not want to see what was killing him. But, there was nothing above him. And the brutal pain was fading. The world was grey, and he was laying in the midst of a thick patch of tall grass. The trees surrounding him looked humongous. He was as small as an ant. Wasn’t that ironic? Given, that’s what he is in the grand scheme of things. Max would have snorted if he could get his vocal cords to work with him. Never doubt his self-deprecation, even in times of dire trouble. Or rather, perceived dire trouble.

_That… Was fucking weird._ Max began to feel his mental reign over his body come back, and he sat up. _Where the hell am I?_ It took Max a moment, but he realized the familiarity of the scenery. It was a small meadow, with trees and flowers surrounding him. He was right near the camp, a short trip from where he was now. Well, he only knew this because it was right near the activities’ centre. He’s snuck out here every so often to get away from the insanity of the rest of the campers.

Speaking of campers, where was the tortured screaming of the damned that usually came from the activities’ centre? It was always loud there. Kids don’t know how to shut their mouths, ever. Why was he even out here? Did he like, escape from activities’ day or whatever bullshit David put together to get them to get along? Come to think of it, he didn’t even remember waking up this morning, or even leaving his tent. He only remembered-

_Hot, hot, even hotter, and steam, trapped- whispers and-_

Okay no, not today, not fucking ever. Max finally stood up. He’s got to see if they went to dinner without him, the bastards. Neil swore he’d get him up whenever this happened.

Max walked through the woods. He avoided tripping the Rube Goldberg machine he set up to hurt anyone who didn’t know it was there. He finally reached the activities’ centre, and he was confused by what he saw.

_Okay, that’s… okay._ Max walked into the activities’ centre, and it looked desolate and deserted. It looked old and broken, even more so than usual. Any wood was rotten, and- holy fuck, was that a dead squirrel? Max couldn’t tell with its head chopped off, and intestines poking out. Max didn’t care to get closer. Maggots and flies went to it like a moth to a flame, or vultures to deer. Max would’ve thrown up if he had a weaker stomach.

Nonetheless, Max marched on to the mess hall… to find no one there. He didn’t feel safe inside the structure. All the wood was rotted, and it looked like if one only touched the wall, the whole thing would collapse. Max could see inside, clear as day, and it looked as cold and lifeless as the activities’ centre.

“ _This isn’t fucking funny, guys._ ” Max growled, tired of this joke already. They’d just pop out, some looking sheepish, others grinning at the satisfaction of pissing Max off. But then the biggest dick of all, David, would patronize them all and Max saying-

_What the-_ _was that a- was that-_

All prior thought fell into the back of his mind.

From a low hanging tree, he saw something. Someone. Rather, it was Space Kid, in a noose made of his cape, dangling lifelessly. He had his helmet on, somehow. Max ran over to the tree, and climbed to the branch he was hanging from. He clung to the tree with one hand, and tried to grab his pocket knife.

Keyword: tried.

—-

Max tumbled forwards when he reached the activities’ centre. _Fucking hell- that fucking hurt!_ His neck felt like it had a crick in it, but a million times worse. His back ached, and he was on his hands and knees for a good five minutes.

_What the actual_ hell _was that?_ He was only strolling along. Then again, as he looked up after the pain subsided, the scenery looked… familiar. The empty activities’ centre, and disemboweled creature. Max was hit with an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

Max took his time getting up from his knees. He stumbled towards the main camp area, staying out of the way of the dead creature.

Max thought about going to the mess hall, but didn’t. He knew he’d be able to hear the loud campers from the exit of the stupid activities’ centre. Not hearing them was a sign that they weren’t there. Anyway, his mind was preoccupied with more important things.

Such as the fact that when he turned to the left, he saw the dangling feet from above him. _Why does this feel so… familiar?_ Max saw the lifeless body of Space Kid hanging above him.

Max leaped away, breathing getting heavy. Max thought of climbing up there and cutting him down, but for some reason…? He knew it wouldn’t work.

_I can’t move. I can’t feel from the neck down but my head has to be split in two, it hurts so bad, please help-_

Max rubbed the back of his head gently, and looked at his hand. No blood. _Well that was…_ He distracted himself when saw a box pushed back, and a stool knocked over on top of it. Max grabbed the box, rectifying the stool in the dead middle. He then pulled it forward, towards where Space Kid was at. Max climbed up, and touched his skin. Cold. Cold as ice. He was long gone.

Nonetheless, Max took his small height advantage against Space Kid, and grabbed his pocket knife. He sliced through the cape, and as he fell, Space Kid hit the box. Max wobbled, but didn’t fall, or stab himself with the sharp knife. He shut the offending object, and placed it in his back pocket. He hopped down from the stool and box, and stood in front of Space Kid.

Max removed his helmet. There was dried spittle on his face, and his eyes were wide still. They were glazed over, and tear tracks were down his face. _Yeah,_ Max thought, _Dead as can be. Even more lifeless as Cameron fucking Campbell._

Max stood up, and turned away. He felt a lump in his throat. He swallowed it. Why would he cry? It's not like he cared about Space Kid, nonetheless any of the other campers.  As a matter of fact, he could use this to get David fired. He should be great, glad, terrific.

Then why did he feel so awful?

 

Now that he saw a kid hanging from a tree, Max was more than worried. Max paced around near the tents, trying to think of his next move. His mind was going a million miles a minute. He ran his hand through his hair. _Jesus Christ,_ Max though, and paused. In any other situation, he wouldn’t have even thought as one of the counselors as _helpful,_ but now there was a dead _kid._ They should have stopped it. Max could definitely get them fired with that- with the- with the dead body of Space Kid. Max’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t even joke about that. He needed to find one of them.

David, Max hoped. _Not that it matters._ He seemed more responsible than Gwen. Even though Gwen has filled out a form for a dead camper, for some reason. _What-fucking-ever._

Max had a dry ice block settle in his stomach. Usually he would prefer not to even be in eyesight of the eye sore of a man- always bouncy, always sunny. But, Max felt like- he had to find the shitty counselor. Gwen was taking a vacation anyway, right?

Yeah, she left real fast after- after- after? After _someone_ came. Who the _fuck_ was it?

_Forget it,_ Max thought, _Doesn’t matter. Gotta find Shitty Camp Man._ His body forgot how to breath for a terrifying moment, and worse, Max didn’t know why. He forced a breath through his lungs, and he shuddered with the effort it brought. _Fucking weird. Leave it to Camp Campbell to do whatever weird shit this is._

Max took a shaky step forward, and then started towards the counselor’s cabin. The wood was rotten, and the structure looked to be in the same state as the mess hall. He supposed so, he didn’t actually go up to the place- or did he? Fuck it.

“David, come on out you piece of shit! You have a fucking form you need to fill out!” Max stepped in front of the door, shoving his hands in his pockets. Silence answered, and a mix of emotions came over him. Anger (and much to his chagrin, fear). “David, I’ll kill you if you don’t come outside now!” He growled. Max became frantic against his will. “David I swear to God if you’re jerking it, I’ll fucking murder you!” He pounded at the door, his heart rate rising. He twisted the door knob, but it was locked. Max could feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. His lungs pulled in more air than he ever thought he could. He stepped a few steps backwards, and threw himself into the door as hard as possible. Much to his surprise, it came loose, and he crashed to floor. Dust settled around the place when he looked up, like no one had inhabited it for years and years.

Not even David.

\---

He fell towards Space Kid’s body once he felt the immense pain flash through his nervous system. _Will you fucking stop?_ He thought to his stupid prepubescent body. He scrambled backwards once he realized how close he was to the corpse. He saw his eyes too close for Max’s comfort, and he may have been able to avoid how bad he felt if he wasn’t so close to it- him- it. Space Kid’s body reeked, and he could see the bruises. He could see exactly how this kid died, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Even as he ran away from the body, he couldn’t get the image out of his mind.

Finally, once he stopped running, Max leaned over and puked. The acid was burning his throat. He felt the undigested chunks of the little bits of food he picked at leave his body. Max almost puked again from the stench. He wasn’t going to look at it. He wasn’t masochistic. He turned away from the puke, and stumbled back towards the counselors’ cabin. He _needed_ David _now._ Take away the kid’s body, or something like that. Max didn’t notice the tear tracks down his face.

He did notice the spot where Space Kid laid. He swerved clear of it. Max frowned, trying to calm himself down. He hadn’t reacted this violently to anything since… _then_ . Anyway, he knew he was overreacting. _You saw a dead body. Nonetheless, a kid’s._ Overreacting. Stop fucking crying, _you pussy_. He wiped away his tears.

Max was about to knock down the door. Then, he realized, David hid a spare set of keys in a potted plant like it was an actual house. David was a fucking idiot. He got to the now dead potted plant, and found the keys after digging for a moment. He shook his hand of dirt and some bugs, and opened the door.

He looked around. It looked like the cabin had been untouched for years. Max tiptoed the rest of the way in. The building looked ready to fall in at any moment.

_The door was the last straw, the building came down right on top of him, he felt a sharp pain through his abdomen, fuck, fuck FUCK DAVID HELP-._

Max could imagine there was some dumb alternate universe. One where his first impulse- to knock down the door- came true or some shit.

A chill came over Max’s body. _Or did that actually happen..?_ No. not fucking possible. _You’re ten, not nine, Max. You’re not some fucking baby. Don’t think about dumb shit like that._

Max shuddered, trying to shake the metaphorical snow off his shoulders. He looked around, trying not to break through the floor or anything, or cause the structure to break down.

The cabin was barren, and it was as lifeless and empty as anything could get. Max swore under his breath, _where the fuck was David?_ Max walked out of the cabin, leaving the door swinging before reaching equilibrium.   _He might be out by the pier._

Max walked through the pines, and sighed. The smell of clean air and pine had been replaced by city air and cigarette smoke. Max picked up his pace.

“FUCK!” Max whined and cursed, growing more irritated. David was nowhere to be found, as was Max’s friends, and patience. Max kicked a rock into the pond, and saw a boat. As most of everything here did, the boat looked rotted out, and the paint job was almost completely ruined. However, it was in much better shape than the pier. It had several boards fallen in, and Max couldn't begin to think of what could have caused the wood to break.

_Why the fuck is everything suddenly so… Old?_ Yes, the camp was in poor condition, but never this bad. The camp now looked… abandoned. Like it had been for many, many years. And that can’t be true. One, Neil had been jumping off the pier yesterday in some stupid fucking exercise David made up. The pier was in adequate condition yesterday. Max now wasn’t sure if it would even hold his measly weight- Max wasn’t even going to risk it. He couldn’t even swim. Not to mention, he hated water with a passion.

Two, none of this could happen overnight. What the fuck happened?

_Maybe I played the Elevator Game, or some shit,_ Max thought sarcastically, _And I got lost. Reasoning: I’ve found nobody so far and it’s a fucking mess._ Max’s mind flew back to Space Kid’s dead body. He shivered.  _Nobody alive._

Max sighed, leading his mind back to its initial train of thought. Was David on Spooky Island? Max was going to kill him. Max supposed he’d have to take the boat.

He huffed as he struggled into the boat, doing his best not to flip it. He finally got the boat steady. He grabbed the oar, and pushed off from shore.

The water looked more diluted than he’d ever saw it. Max began paying attention to the details as he struggled to oar himself to the other side. He saw his sleeves were white. He was used to seeing the grey-ish color- blue, as Neil called it. He wasn’t sure why he was in a different hoodie, but he was focusing more on rowing.

Well, _was._ Max shifted his leg, and he heard a squish, a splash, and felt cold. He looked down.

Water was seeping in from the bottom of the boat.

—-

Max coughed, trying to get _something_ out of his lungs. He lurched forward and his lungs ached. Max wheezed, and dry heaved. He gasped, and tried to breathe, _do anything to breathe_. Tears welled up in his darkening vision.

Max felt his body collapse to the floor. A defense mechanism his body deployed so he wouldn’t use all his remaining oxygen trying to hold himself up, he supposed. And to his later surprise, it worked. Seconds before his mind shut down, his lungs stopped over reacting and let him breathe again. Max coughed for a moment, then let his lungs work their magic and his heart calm down. He tried to get up several times, but he felt victorious when he finally stood with minimal dizziness.

Max was about tired of these weird spells, but he knew it was having to do with the weirdness of the camp right now. It had to have been. Max felt the deja vu feeling again. Max thought for a moment, staring at the boat, then pressed his foot onto the boat. Water spewed between the floorboards.

Max backed away from it. _Well that,_ his mind short circuited as he pushed away from the boat, _was weird._ Max chuckled to himself. _Am I getting some weird spidey sense from the radioactive food in this camp?_ Max snorted. _Probably._

In all seriousness, Max decided to follow whatever the fuck his gut was telling him. And right now, even though earlier he didn’t want to, his gut decided to go climb a tree.

He found a tree with a good- almost too good- foothold, and climbed to the top, doing his best not to slip. Once the leaves started feathering out, he spotted another tree he could jump to with ease. His gut told him to jump to it, so he did.

He actually got by like this, until he reached the edge of the forest. Or rather, until he couldn’t jump from tree to tree anymore without endangering life or limb. He looked around. _What the fuck am I supposed to do now?_ He then spotted a- _was that a fucking-_ zip line platform? A zip line? To Spooky Island? Max huffed, eyes widening. _For once today_ , Max thought, _Something_ good.

Max went back some, then hopped to where he could reach the top of the platform.

“ _WATCH OUT!”_

—-

Max almost fell off the top of the tree, feeling an awful pain all over his body. Max sat down on the branch, and waited for the pain to die down.

His mind was clear enough to think, but he was tired. He didn’t know what was going on. He wanted it to stop. He wanted to find David, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. He wanted to avoid all humans possible.

The searing pain soon died down, and Max got up on the branch. He hopped from branch to branch, to where he knew he’d find something. The green needles of the pine tree gave way to a- zip line! That was it.

_Duck!_ Max flopped down onto the branch, getting scratches all over his body. Seconds later, he heard a familiar scream.

“ _WATCH OUT!_ ” Max then heard an arrow zoom right above his head. Max heard another arrow pass over. The boy listened to the sound of pine needles rustling, then a thunk. He gripped onto the branch, hoping that he wouldn’t be knocked down.

“ _Max?_ ” Max heard, and he turned his head to the sound. He saw a white kid with an afro, and a bow. _Was that fuckin’-_

“ _Neil?_ ” Max spoke, and let himself sit up. Neil hopped to the branch beside him. “ _Where the hell did you come from?_ ” Max bit.

“ _I could ask the same of you,_ ” Neil rolled his eyes. “ _There are some kids who are shit heads here.”_ He paused. “ _More so than us.”_ Neil gestured towards the ground. “ _Do you have any clue where we are?_ ” Neil inquired.

“ _We’re in the hellish camp, did you hit your head or something, idiot?”_ Max rolled his eyes. Neil furrowed his eyebrows, like he was thinking. “ _Wait, you’re colorblind right? Like, black and white?_ ” Max raised his eyebrows. “ _Yes, I’m colorblind, What do you mean, dipshit?"_

“ _Don’t you notice anything different? I mean, I know you see black, white, and shades of grey, usually, but that’s all I see right now. There’s usually the blue of your jacket, but now its white; the green of the pines; but its grey; the brown of the bark is black. And the sky is WHITE. It’s so… different.”_ Neil sat on the branch he was on. Max looked on, head full of thoughts. _“I… didn’t notice anything that different._ ” Max took inventory of his surroundings. The greys looked a little off than usual, but yes, it was sort of different. “ _Looking closer, I guess it’s a little different._ ” Max shrugged, keeping a cool exterior, feeling the icy feeling return to his stomach.

“ _This can’t be Camp Campbell._ ” Neil whispered. Both boys were left to their own thoughts, staring to the pale sky. Colorless.

Max jumped to his feet, keeping a hold to the feathering top of the tree so he wouldn’t fall. “ _Well, I’m trying to get to Spooky Island. Hoping to find one of our shitty counselors there._ ” Max let go of the main part as he ran and jumped to the zipline platform. There was many metal bars on the platform, which he supposed he would use to get down to the island. He grabbed the bar, heaving it over his shoulders. Max wobbled as he felt something hit the platform. “ _What the-_ “ Max caught his balance, and turned around. Neil was behind him.

“ _I like my alone time, but not right now._ ” Neil picked up a bar, and stood behind him. “ _Now how do I use this?_ ” Neil said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Max rolled his eyes, he almost felt his eyes roll out of his head. It felt nice being with his stupid, yet arrogant friend once again.

“ _Put the bar on top of the wire and grab the other side of it, and slide down.”_ Max stated in a matter-of-fact tone, standing where the wire began, and threw the bar over top of it. It dipped a little, but was well strung. He grabbed the side he flung over with his other hand, and prepared to head towards Spooky Island.

“ _Max, isn’t this a little,_ ” Neil paused and looked around, “ _dangerous?_ ”

“ _Neil, please._ ” Max scoffed, “ _We’ve done more life threatening shit than this. Grow a fucking pair._ ” Max leapt off the platform, and he could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal.

“ _MAX!_ ” Max looked over his shoulder. He could do nothing but watch as an arrow intersected him from the middle of nowhere. Max was so surprised by the pain, he lost his grip, and plummeted into the cold, cold, water below.

—-

Max lurched forward, and almost fell off the zipline platform. He took a step away, and fell dead on his ass.

“ _Max, are you okay?_ ” Neil looked to his friend with worried eyes. Max felt his side ache, with dull and stabbing pains. _Fuck._

“ _Yeah, just great._ ” Max forced himself to get up. He flung himself onto the zip line, despite everything telling him not to. He had to see if he was going to… get hurt, every time. He slid down the metal wire.

—-

Max stumbled away from the zipline. _No, no no!_  " _Max, are you-_ “ Max cut the other boy off. “ _We need to find another way around, let’s go back to the branch._ ” Max didn’t give even a glance back, knowing what Neil was thinking.

“ _Max, it won’t support weight where you can reach to.”_ Neil worried. “ _Like hell it won’t!_ ” Max took a leap of faith, and prayed that the branch wouldn’t snap.

God didn’t listen. He never did.

—-

Max leapt for the branch, and fell. _No._

—-

He slid down the metal wire. Shot down. _Fucking._

_—-_

Falling. _Way._

_—-_

Max collapsed to the ground, holding tears of sorrow back. He’s not a pansy, and pansies cry more than once a day. He’s not going to cry. He won’t cry.

But he was about to lose his friend. Or he was going to have to stay up there forever, and rot with the wood beneath them. That or, go insane from dying over and over. Rather, go insane from (not quite) knowing what was going on and what was going to happen.

“ _Neil,”_ Max willed himself to speak, “ _Will you go first?_ ” He whispered. Neil stiffened. “ _I don’t know how to do this!”_ Neil was anxious, for a very different reason than Max. Neil was anxious because he’d never done this before, this was first time. Max could have laughed if it weren’t for the situation.

Max furrowed his brows, and swallowed the lump in his throat. “ _You fucking wimp, get over here._ ” Max motioned for him to come to the wire. Neil walked forward, and Max stood.

Neil got the main gist fast enough, he was smart, and this wasn’t very intuitive. Max took a gulp. “ _Well, I guess it’s time to try,_ ” Neil laughed, hysterical in his fear, “ _Why fucking not?_ ”

Max stayed completely silent, and did nothing but nod. “ _See you down there, right?_ ” Neil said. Max looked forward, towards the skyline. " _Bye._ ” Neil looked at him inquisitively then shrugged. Neil then leapt forward with a scream of fear.

Max could only hear the screech of metal against metal, then a splash. The boy curled into a ball.

_Fucking pansy._

 

After Max calmed down, he decided to go down the line himself. It was all too quiet now. Max shuddered.

Max flung his bar over the wire. He grabbed the other side. _You know,_ he thought, _That may not have even changed anything. I might get shot down anyway, but fate wanted him to die before me._ Max scoffed. _As if I’ve earned enough good karma for that._

He threw himself down the zipline. And of course, he wasn’t shot. Of fucking course.

Max hadn’t, however, thought about how he would be getting off the zipline. He also hadn’t been expecting to be flung forward so violently, he let go of the bar. Max’s inertia flew him dead into a tree, and then he finally hit the ground. Then it went black.

Max woke up a few minutes later, his head killing him. He moved all his body parts- thankfully, none broken, only sore and bruised. Or unthankfully. It still fucking hurt.

Max pulled himself up, and leaned against the tree. _Time to look and see if the shitty counselor is here._ He pushed himself off the tree, and began to walk the shoreline. No sight of David, or anyone. _Is everyone…?_

Max heard a rustle in the bushes. He jolted around, to see nothing there. Max turned back around, fear written on his face, more on edge now. Hell, his nerves were fucking fried. He didn’t want to do this anymore. He wanted to lay down and die.

But for some reason, Max didn’t. Sheer spite was a semi-possible reason, but who was there to spite? _David, if-_ Max corrected himself, _When I find him._

Max trudged into the woods. He guessed he would have to visit Campbell’s vacation home. He shuddered. He fucking hated that place. Made an embarrassment of him, and gave him reason to be genuinely horrified. The vacation home could go fuck off- well, die, would be a better terminology. But, Max could only think the Camp man would be there. There wasn’t another habitable place on this island.

Max’s legs burned as he walked the incline, slipping more than once. God, he fucking hated this. As much as he hated to admit it, he hated to be alone, despite all he says. And this place was filled with memories with his first friends, one of whom is dead now, the other, unknown. Neil was whining, Nikki was cheering, and some weird kid was following them. They were, as usual, searching for trouble, of course. He missed the not so mundane times of Camp Campbell. He had a lot of feelings about this camp, and he grew more mad every time he thought about it.

Max smelt rotting flesh as he peaked the top, and saw Campbell’s Manor. Max sighed. The manor looked as barren as ever, but felt even more so than usual. Max waltzed on in.

There was no weird continuity errors, or anything. The statue was still broken, and everything was in place. Max didn’t know what he was expecting. It wasn’t like this was some alternate universe. Max figured he didn’t need to go into the laboratory, _hopefully_ , so he wandered around.

That was, until he heard a creak behind him. He would’ve loved to think it was him, but it was too far behind him. He instinctively flipped around, and saw off-white hair…

—-

Max coughed violently, rubbing his throat. It fucking hurt. He looked up- he was at the front of a hallway. He felt his mind telling him to go find something. It wasn’t safe going in there without some form of protection. He stepped out of the house, and grabbed a large stick, or a small log. _Yeah,_ Max shifted it in his hands, _This should be good._ He lugged the heavy-ish wood in his arms, and found his way back to the hallway.

_Here goes nothing,_ Max thought, then traveled down the hallway. It was dark, and musky, and completely silent. Which made it perfect so that he could hear the creaking of the board.

Max turned around as he saw off white hair lunge at him. Max dodged faster than lightning, and then swung the stick. It collided with the person’s face, and he fell to the ground. Max didn’t look at their body, and took sprinting down the hall. He had to find David. Now.

Looking around the entire house,- that wasn’t a creepy sex dungeon- Max found that he still couldn’t find David. Worse, he was being followed by some man wearing a cult leader get up. Of course, this would happen to him. Of fucking course.

Max still had the stick, and he walked down the hallway he figured the laundry chute would be on. He had no other choice than to go into the laboratory. He hadn’t been down here, since Space Kid- Max shuddered- had been the one to travel down here, after all.

Max yawned. He wanted to go to sleep. To lay down, to not move ever again. He wouldn’t though, because he was fucking stubborn as all hell.

Max heard loud footsteps behind him. Max ran forward, but the thing- the only living thing here- caught him. Max screamed and struggled, but couldn’t get out of the grasp of the man. “ _Let. Me. Fucking._ Go!” He shouted, trying to grab his hoodie from the man’s grasp. “ _No can do, kiddo!_ ” He said in a cheerful tone. “ _You’ve been awfully bad, but I know we reach ascension!_ ” Max shuddered, freezing up. The name of the man came to him, for reasons unknown to him.

_Daniel_. Daniel brought him to a workshop bench, and tied him up, so he couldn’t squirm or pull himself down.

Finally, Daniel hung him from a hook on the ceiling. “ _Stay here,_ Max, _I’ll be right back~.”_ Daniel skittered away, and Max could feel fear rising in his throat. The floor looked pretty far down, but not far enough to seriously damage his body(unless he fell wrong). Max wriggled, like a worm, and felt his hoodie begin to tear. He liked his hoodie, but he liked his life more. The hoodie finally tore, and he fell to the floor. He landed on his knees, making them ache, but his entire body ached at this point. He pushed himself up to his feet, somehow gaining balance. His legs couldn’t bend, due to the rope, but he could jump. It made way more sound than he liked to admit, but it was the only way.

Max took large jumps, making his way to the laundry chute. He made his way to the door. It was cracked open, and the smell of rotten flesh seemed heavier here. Max blanched, but opened the door.

_Harrison. Nerris._ They laid on opposite sides of the room, disemboweled. They also had a strange substance coming out the sides of their mouths. Max would have been more attentive, but he heard a voice calling after him.

“ _Max, you need to come back here!”_ Max wasn’t staying there another minute. _Fuck that shit._ Max leapt forward towards the chute, and he tumbled down into the abyss.

Max groaned as he sat up, his head killing him. The fall hadn’t killed him somehow, and had broken him free of the rope. Win-win, he supposed. He stretched as he stood up, and looked around. There was some medicines on old looking shelves, none that would be of use to him. Furthermore, he didn’t see the fucker he came for. David. He went out of the room, searching around again. David wasn’t down here, either. _Fucking waste. I could have died._ Max grumbled to himself. He found the hidden stairs that led up to the outside, where QM had taken him, Nikki, and Neil back to the surface to camp. He shivered.

He opened the door to the outside, and left the manor. _Where the fuck else could he be?_ Max decided to see if there was some other creepy, hidden, adaptable place on this island. David could be camping for _fun,_ again. Fucking creep.

Max entered the wooded area, and jumped over a small but deep ditch, with a box nearby it. Then, he noticed something odd. Worms- or were they maggots? What the fuck?

Max’s vision became hazy. An immense pain radiated through his skull, then he felt- disconnected. Numb.

He felt his body walk towards where the ditch was. He became nervous, and forced himself to pull back a little, which only slowed him down a little. His body pushed the box into the ditch- _no, I don’t want to die like this!_ Max shouted in his mind. Max walked onto the box… Then his body pulled him the other way, the way he was walking before. Then, he climbed a log, and fell forward. He had his free will back. Max looked up, and saw a plant devouring a maggot. Was that was on his head? “ _What the actual FUCK?!”_ Max cried out, rubbing his head, and crawled away from the spot. He looked down at his hands, and moved around a bit. That was fucking… _Surreal._ Max hated this.

Max proceeded on, and came across another one of those maggots. Max found a top of a box. He predicted that if he covered his head, the maggot creature couldn’t grab him.

But as usual, he was wrong. The maggot ate through the fucking box. His mind was numb again, and he began to walk towards a deep, deep water. No. No, NO! He fell in the deep, murky water, and felt the air leave his body.

—-

Max coughed with the force to kill elephants, but he tried to stifle it. He saw the familiar box top. He felt weird trying to pick it up, and knew he shouldn’t do that. He decided to push it instead, and the maggot burrowed into his skull. He became numb once again. He was virtually disconnected with his body. His body pushed the box top in the direction of the water, and it fell in. His body went in after it, but it balanced on the box, and what little control he had, he forced his body to jump. He grabbed the ledge above, and pulled his body up with much effort. The maggot led his body on. He headed on through the grass, and he noticed something shiny. He jumped over it, and knew what it was. A bear trap. He made it over. He continued walking forward numbly, letting it do its thing. He finally saw one of those weird, brain maggot eating things, and he jumped up to it. He winced as he heard it leave his brain, and the squishy, painful feeling of when it left made him uncomfortable. But whatever. At least he could _feel_ uncomfortable, now.

Max continued to walk through the woods, and he found a plethora of bear traps. Why the fuck were these here? Did Campbell want to?

Max jumped over one last one, and then heard running behind him. He turned around. _Daniel._ He stumbled backwards, as Daniel continued running. “ _You need to stop! Zeemug will not be happy with you!_ ” He cried, and Max couldn’t stand. _Why won’t you fucking stand-_ Suddenly, he heard a metallic _snap_ , and a scream of pain.  Max looked up, and saw the man. Rather, the top half of the man. His innards were falling out, and the bear trap had his entire body cut in two. Worse, even, Daniel was still awake. “ _No!_ ” he rasped, blood leaving him like water, a sickly black color, and Max’s muscles let him back up a little bit. Daniel pulled his body forward, towards the boy. He flung his knife towards him, to which Max swiftly dodged. It clattered in front of Daniel. He coughed, dark colors spreading across the ground. He wheezed, and then his body stopped moving once and for all. Max winced, and then heard a whooshing sound beside his head, and right beside Daniel’s body, was an arrow. Max turned around quickly, and saw a group of familiar campers.

The _Wood Scouts._ Max ran for cover, ducked underneath a rock. He needed something to protect himself, and fast. He saw Daniel’s knife, and he winced. He tore it from his warm, but dead hand, crawling back over to his body. Max looked up, and he saw nothing but the head Wood Scout himself- then nothing.

—-

Max groaned in pain, his head aching, but he grabbed the severed body’s knife, as the first arrow landed beside him. He dashed for a rock, and heard flint against rock.  Max stood for a moment, and watched as Edward Pikeman came towards him. He drew back an arrow, and shot at Max, but he dodged. Pikeman reached within arms reach of Max. Max lunged with all his life force before Pikeman could draw another arrow. Two other Wood Scouts- who Max distantly recognized as Billy and Petrol- still shot at them. However, they missed like storm troopers, as they were trying not to shoot their leader. They both struggled for power, and of course, Pikeman won. He dug his nails into Max’s throat, and Max struggled against him. His hand still had a fierce grip on the knife. His arm was working against his mind, primal instincts flaring. Max forced his arm to listen, and slammed his hand- with the knife- into Pikeman’s side. In surprise, he let go, and Max pushed him away and coughed violently. Max then backed up as he realized there were two arrows loaded straight towards his face. Max shut his eyes and…

Nothing happened. Max opened his eyes as he heard shouts of pain and sudden silence. He opened his eyes to see...

“ _Ni-Nikki?”_ Max rasped, still coughing from Pikeman’s attack. All three wood scouts were gone, and Nikki had a dark substance on her side, though it was clearly not from her. “ _Heya!_ ” Nikki cheered. Max rubbed his throat. " _What are you doing here?_ ”

Nikki pulled him up. “ _Saving your life!_ ” Nikki grinned and pulled him away, out of the thicket. She led him to a boat. Max flinched, and stepped on the boat with one foot- it was waterproof.

“ _Nikki, how’d you-_ “ Nikki cut Max off. “ _We gotta get away from here, back to camp!_ ” She said, suspiciously urgent. Max shut up for once, and helped Nikki row- which in itself was arduous and slow.

Eventually, they made it back to the Camp’s shore, and sat on the shore for a few minutes, just breathing. Or catching breath. Max had been choked out, and he wasn’t exactly the poster boy of good health.

“ _Hey… Did you see… Space Kid?_ ” Max decided to start. He looked over at Nikki, and Nikki was staring up to the sky, limbs and pigtails splayed out across the ground. “ _Yeah. Did you see Neil?_ ” Nikki said. Max looked away from her. “ _I didn’t see him dead._ ”

Max could feel her eyes full of pity burrow into his soul. Max shook his head. “ _Not like it matters. What even the fuck happened here, anyway?_ ” Max growled, sitting up. “ _One day, it’s all fine, the next, now we’re-_ “ Max cut himself off, looking down. “ _Now we’re…”_

_Daniel. Kool-aid. Ascension._

Max laid back down without saying another word, staring up blankly into the sky.

“ _Dead.”_ Max whispers, the word foreign on his tongue. Nikki gave a grunt of affirmation. Max looked over the lake. There was no logic in that statement. But there was no fucking logic here, either. Ghosts didn’t exist, but how did he know that Max would die if he fell off the branch Space Kid was hanging from? How did he know that the boat would sink? How did he know he would die if he went first on the zip line? How did he know? Ex machinas don’t work like that. He doesn’t have any good luck. At fucking _all._ Max didn’t believe in ghosts, or an afterlife of any kind. It was supposed to be utter oblivion for the rest of time!

“ _If we’re dead, then where are we?_ ” Max challenged the belief that they were dead. Max expected silence from Nikki, but she stayed silent for only a moment. “ _Limbo, or purgatory, or something of the such._ ” Max leaned away from her. “ _And how do you know that?_ ”

“ _I don’t, not really,_ ” Nikki said like her normal cheerful self. Max almost retorted, but she continued. “ _But do you remember what happened before_ all _this? Have you noticed the absence of color here??_ ”

“ _I’m color blind, Nik.”_ Max deadpanned. Nikki winced. “ _Right. But don’t you remember what happened?_ ”

“ _Bits and pieces.”_ Max turned away. Nikki grabbed his shoulder, and turned him towards her. Max looked her dead in the eyes. She looked sad, and desolate.

“ _Max, we drank rat poison. David couldn’t save us._ ” Nikki said, looking into his eyes. Max tore away from her. Nikki began to look nervous, but Max could care less. “ _Max-_ “

“ _FUCK OFF NIKKI!_ ” Max shouted, tears welling up for the third time today. No, fucking _no._ He’s not dead. Max can’t be dead. He’s breathing.

The boy stormed off into woods. Trees flew by him, and tore his hoodie little by little. Max refused to cry. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Finally, he found a clearing. It looked familiar. Max laughed like a mad man. It was the meadow he woke up in. He finally sat down.

Max couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to. But, though he remembered only bits and pieces, it was almost irrefutable evidence. What was he to do now? What would happen to them? Were they to die off like the rest of their friends? What if Nikki died on shore? He didn’t want to be alone in here. In whatever Nikki said. It was closer to Hell, in Max’s opinion.

“ _Max…?_ ” Max heard from behind him, and He turned to see Nikki behind him, looking at him apologetically. “ _I'm sorry…”_ She mumbled. Nikki was completely different than she usually was. To be fair, Max wasn’t acting like normal either. Damn purgatory thing.

“ _It’s fine.”_ Max mumbled back. It was silent for a moment, a moment filled with words wanting to be said, but left unsaid.

“ _We’re,”_ Max paused. “ _We’re never going to see David again, are we?”_ Nikki sat in front of him. She paused. Nikki nodded sorrowfully. Max dropped his head, and began to feel the golf ball in his throat rise again. “ _You must have really liked him, huh?_ ” Nikki mumbled.

Max felt tears spill out of his eyes. _God fucking damn it._

“ _Don’t get me wrong,_ ” Max tried to keep his voice steady, “ _He was a shitty happy go lucky counselor, and I hate him._ ” Max took a breath. “ _But.. he- he was like a father figure to me._ ” Max finally lurched forward and hugged Nikki, sobbing.

It was stupid. She was like, six months younger than him. He shouldn’t be seeking comfort in her. Max soon felt tears stain his shoulder. They sat there and cried on each other.

Neither boy nor girl noticed as they faded from the scenery.

 


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He remembers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With encouraging from neeniya- a person who commented from last chapter- I decided to post these snippets that were originally in the fic, but were removed for continuity, These entail merely memories, set all before he was thrown into Limbo. They have co-relation to the main plot, but don't cause the main plot. Thus, this is filler, even though this may be the last chapter of this series (I'm debating on doing others point of views, certainly not as long as this one, lol,). 
> 
> These are also non linear! I give explicit age in some of them, but others are up to your interpretation. Let your fancy fly free!
> 
> To conclude, there are many content warnings I must include in this chapter, that I will put into the tags after this goes up.  
> -Child death  
> -slurs  
> -homophobia  
> -drowning  
> -brainwashing  
> -explicit child abuse  
> -child neglect  
> -feelings of worthlessness  
> -domestic abuse  
> -bullying
> 
> PLEASE CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I will include a short synopsis at the end.

_ He never made any friends at Camp Campbell, in his two years of going. He was expecting the third year to be the same, ignored, the camp counselor trying to fit him in but he simply (can’t) won’t. _

 

_ It wasn’t, though- It was a hundred times worse. _

 

_ The boy, in the two years prior, had at least  _ known  _ somebody, as they had travelled there the year before, but this year, no previous campers visited. It was almost depressing.  _

 

_ The kids decided to pick on the littlest, that is, being him. Instead of being ignored, he was the centre of their attention, in all the bad ways. And one day, the worst came. _

 

_ The boy cried out in shock. He screamed for David, Gwen,  _ somebody-  _ a kid had been  _ shot  _ for Christ’s sakes, and from its placement near the heart, even with the kid’s limited medical expertise, he knew it wasn’t good. He fell by the kid. He honestly didn’t really like the kid, didn’t really know him either. But  _ God,  _ this was fucked up. He grabbed his hand, to see if it was cold.. _

 

_ When he saw his nānī’s body at the wake after she had died, he had to go up and do final goodbyes with his mother. He gently touched her hand. It was cold. _

 

_ But when he touched the kids hand, it was warm. He felt the kid’s chest move, then he sat up and cackled. “ _ That was so gay!”  _ He said like he hadn’t been dead in Max’s eyes seconds ago.  _ “And you’re crying? Faggot!”  _ It slipped out of the kid’s mouth, like knowing it was an insult, but not knowing what it meant. He violently rubbed his eyes, then scrambled away from him. _

 

_ He ran away. _

 

—-

 

_ The kid wandered around the barren camp. He was the last camper, once again. He had been there for 2 fucking years, he was 9, they should know when to pick him up? _

 

Who are you kidding. They aren’t coming because they don’t care, and you know that.  _ He huffed, withholding tears. God, he fucking hates his family. _

 

_ “ _ Ready to go, kiddo?”  _ David cheered. the boy rolled his eyes, and climbed into the backseat of the stupid, dirty, clammy campmobile. David turned on cheery music, and rambled about what he was going to do now that camp was over for the year.  _

 

_ He decided to zone out so he could get some peace before he went to his parent’s house. _

 

—-

 

_ He had snuck downstairs to get some food, and he did nothing but watch his father scream at his mother. He did nothing as he watched her hit the floor from a powerful hit. Did nothing as he watched his father down a whole bottle of an almost sweet smelling substance. Nothing as he watched his father turn towards him. Did nothing as he spotted his small body staring at the abused mother, laying on the floor, staring at him with wide eyes. _

 

_ He did a lot when his father took off running towards him. He screamed, and ran back up the stairs of which he came. The boy couldn’t discern what was being yelled at him, and didn’t care too. He could feel the murderous intent in his father’s eyes. The kid heard a shatter behind him, and he yelped in pain as he stepped on something sharp. Door door door- _

 

_ He slammed the door to his bedroom shut, and locked it. He cried in the darkness of his room from pain, and fear. His back was against the door, and he could feel his father slamming his fists against it. “ _ You’re dead to me! _ ” “ _ You useless brat! _ ” Finally, it stopped, and he said, “ _ You better stay in there, or I might get you next time, _ ” He growled, and stalked away. _

 

_ The boy had to get up and get supplies to clean the wound. It hurt so much. He was so scared. He tugged on the door. _

 

_ It didn’t budge. _

 

_ Made sure the door was unlocked. _

 

_ It didn’t budge. _

 

_ He wanted to scream for help. He stumbled backwards, and fell to the floor in pain. The boy felt nauseous, and he puked up measly bile, and tears fell down his face. _

 

_ He was stuck in here. He was hurt. He was scared. He cried. _

 

_ But nobody came. _

 

_ —- _

 

_ Cold. Or was it scalding? The water was one of the extremes, he couldn’t tell which.  _

 

_ When he was lifted for a mere moment, he tried to gather air, but the boy was no match for the pain of the impact of water. He heard children laughing, at him, at his pain. He was pulled back up again. His lungs grabbed desperately for air, even though he wanted to do nothing but spit in his aunt’s face. _

 

_ He blacked out, whilst being dunked in the water, thinking of being dry. _

 

_ \--- _

 

_ The boy bitterly sat on the dirt when David decided they were going to play in the pond as the latest activity. While the other campers were having fun in the moldy water, The kid was safe on land. Fuck all of them. They could all drown, and he didn’t care. Water is dangerous, in all amounts visible. You could drown too easily, especially if you didn’t know how to swim. It wasn’t his fucking fault his parents never taught him, or ever cared to even give him a passing thought. _ __   
_   
_ __ David sat beside him, and he scooted away. David was in bathing shorts, and wore no shirt. “Fucking seriously, dude?!” The boy exclaimed, and David simply smiled. “Language.”

 

_ —- _

 

_ The boy only remembered brief moments. He remembered someone, that wasn’t quite him, speaking through his lips. Saying, “I love you, Daniel!” The boy would’ve scoffed if he could from his weird area of wherever. He loved a very limited amount of things.  _

 

_ He also remembered hearing distant singing. He didn’t know why, and he didn’t want to know, really. _

 

_ He remembered smelling rat poison and pine needles, which was familiar. There were so many rodents at the camp, though mostly moles. Campbell didn’t bother on distinguishing, and the kid honestly didn’t even know if different rodents had different things that were poisonous to them. He didn’t care enough to check. _

 

_ He remembered the taste was sweet. Kool Aid, and something sweet, like candy. It was chunky, the boy remembered. _

 

_ Finally, he remembered seeing David above him. He was crying, sobbing. It was silent. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first memory   
> -Max had no friends in years prior to this camp (is nine here, has been going to camp since he was seven)  
> -He was bullied by those who saw him  
> -they pretended to kill one of the campers, and left him to find the body  
> -they wake up, call him names, and he runs away.  
> the second memory  
> -max is nine  
> -his parents forget to take him home  
> -david takes him home :D  
> the third memory  
> -no explicit age  
> -max went downstairs to find food  
> -he finds his mom being battered by his dad  
> -his dad chases him into his room  
> -hes trapped in there  
> the fourth memory  
> -no explicit age  
> -his aunt shoves him in a bath, drowning him and his cousins laugh  
> the fifth memory  
> -canon age(shortly before inciting incident)  
> -David prepared an activity in the lake  
> -he refuses to swim, obviously  
> the sixth memory  
> -the summary of the entire fic. lol
> 
> And thus, it comes around full circle. I hope you enjoyed!!!
> 
> If you w...want, you can check out my [ tumblr ](http://doyouhaveanychill.tumblr.com/) for some random reblogs and occassionally some content!!! may not be directly related to this au, but I accept asks so!! if you want to ask me about it!!!! Id love!!!! to answer!!!!
> 
> anyway, bye!!!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Blease I thrive off of comments. I also got little snippets that I took out (that didn't make sense with the story) if you want to see those? Please HMUUU 
> 
> Thank you for reading! If youre willing, please leave kudos, comment, and share with your friends!!! <3
> 
> Also, Inform me if theres any errors! I didn't have a beta lol


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